A Million Little Things Recap: What Jon Knew, and What Ashley Isn't Saying

If you are aMillion Little Thingsviewer who is not a fan of Eddie and Delilah’s tryst, this week’s episodemay not be for you.

Like its title promises, “The Day Before…” takes us back in time to just before Jon committed suicide; in other words, the characters are the people they were, in the situations they were in, during the pilot. Rome is contemplating offing himself. Maggie and Gary haven’t met. And Eddie is still tuning Delilah’s six-string on the regular, if you catch my drift, as they both plan to let their significant others know about their illicit love.

Read on for the hour’s highlights.

BONJOUR, BEANTOWN | As Maggie moves into her Boston apartment, she’s on the phone with her new oncologist’s office. She was in remission for six months before her cancer returned, she tells them, and is in the process of scheduling chemo when her father shows up unexpectedly and says he’s there to help her pack. They have a good time until Dad notices the Panda, which it turns out Chad got for Maggie at a carnival when they were kids. Then there’s some crying, but things end well — though she can’t bring herself to tell him that she’s sick again. Also of interest: Maggie is much closer, apparently, with her father than with her mother.

Still, when Dad leaves, Maggie gets to work, repacking almost everything they unpacked.

JON’S GOT SECRETS | On his last morning on Earth, Jon gets a voicemail from whomever Constance Zimmer is playing. She tells him she can’t do what he wants her to, and that he should stop calling. This makes him very mad. But still, he tamps it down and tells Delilah that he will make sure to meet her at a restaurant for dinner that night. “We really need to talk,” she stresses. “I couldn’t agree more,” he replies. When Jon leaves for work, Delilah calls Eddie. “We’re really doin’ this, huh?” he asks, and they trade “I love yous” before hanging up.

FOUL! | The guys meet for a game of basketball, but they’ve barely started playing before they’re all ripping on Gary for breaking up with the latest in a series of women he’s dumped for little to no reason. Rome and Eddie are playful about it, but Jon’s tone is very angry/disappointed. He brings up that Gary has a quarterly screening the next day, and that he didn’t nurse him through chemo “so you can piss your life away.” But Jon is just getting started. “What’s the point of living if you’re not going to live?” he yells, causing Rome and Eddie to step in and Gary to leave in a huff.

INSIDE THAT APARTMENT | After a tense call at the office, Jon confides in Ashley that a subway vote they needed to happen isn’t going to happen, and therefore they are royally screwed and the business is likely going to go under. Then he brings her to the apartment we saw in the fall finale — but that kiss she plants on him ends abruptly when he backs away, saying he can’t. They get past it rather quickly, and pretty soon he’s showing her old photo albums he’s got stashed at the place. Turns out, Jon lived in the apartment when he was in his 20s, and that’s why he bought the entire block. (Side note: Um, OK?) When Ashley asks about a certain photo, Jon quickly shuts her down. And when they start talking about regrets, he says he’d “go back and never buy that bottle of wine,” seemingly referring to a bottle that’s on a table full of photographs.

He’s going on about how small choices can affect everything when Regina calls, wanting to talk about a bad day at her catering job: some corporate d-bag grabbed her tush, and her boss didn’t back her up. After they hang up, Jon seems a little more himself: He makes Ashley a trustee of his “because I trust you with my life,” then he puts the papers she signed in an envelope marked “Rutledge.” They leave, with him swearing her to secrecy about the place, then he puts other things in other envelopes — one marked “Barbara Morgan” — and the camera lingers on a bag from a drugstore, though I’m not sure why.

JON KNEW! | Thinking Jon has stood her up for dinner, Delilah eats alone… until Eddie shows up. The waiter mistakes him for Delilah’s husband, and he plays along, showing her some affection right there at the table. AND JON IS WATCHING FROM OUTSIDE THE RESTAURANT. What?!? (Side note: This moment caused my co-worker Matt Mitovich to have a loud, verbal reaction, too.) This also is probably a good time to let you know that earlier, at the office, we watched Ashley open an envelope from the police department: Delilah got caught by a red-light camera while driving with Eddie, and the photo in the notice shows her and Eddie canoodling in the front seat. Jon doesn’t see the ticket, which came to his office because the car is registered to the company, and Ash doesn’t tell him what’s up.

RANCH RULES | Rome nails a pitch to make Hidden Valley Ranch’s Super Bowl commercial, and he’s very excited about it until he’s not. As we now know, he’s not the happy-go-lucky go-getter he seems to be. And eventually, we watch him grab a pad and write what was supposed to be his suicide note.

TO THE DOGS | Gary feeds a stray dog and it follows him home; he names it Colin. When someone from a shelter comes to pick up the pup, Gary is dismayed to learn that older, bigger dogs like Colin are usually tough to place with a family, and that he’ll likely be put down after two weeks if he’s not adopted.

While he’s waiting for the doctor to come in and give him the results of the screening the next day, Gary calls the shelter and makes arrangements to adopt Colin.

THE DAY OF | The next morning, Jon leaves before he and Delilah can talk about the previous evening. We hear her side of Eddie’s phone conversation from the pilot, when they talk about how they can’t stand to be around their significant others for one more moment. But then Delilah finds the drugstore bag of Jon’s and realizes he brought home a battery for the smoke detector like she’d asked the day before, and she’s touched.

THE FINAL MOMENTS | Then all that’s left is to watch Jon in the office as he dismisses Ashley, finishes his call, leaves a voicemail for Eddie advising them all to “love each other” and jump off his office balcony. But what we didn’t know: He’d purchased a plane ticket for Ashley to travel to Spain, because she’d said that was one thing she really wanted to do.

Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!